Now I am going to jump on the bandwagon. About a week or so ago I witnessed a minor accident on a main thoroughfare and without missing a beat I automatically stopped to give my business card to the non-responsible party. I was in between meetings so I really did not have time to chat, but I could see the shocked look on his face as I handed it to him and briskly got back in my car to zoom away to my next appointment.

I stopped for many reasons. Foremost, it is the right thing to do, despite the fact it is rarely done. Secondly, although it would have appeared to be a rear end/right rear quadrant collision, the party that was hit was actually one hundred percent at fault. She decided to cut across four lanes of busy traffic to grab a parking spot and the poor sod in front of me had nowhere to go. Third, I firmly believe in random acts of kindness, and I knew the unfortunate fellow was going to get blamed when he was in no way at fault, and lastly, it could just as easily have been me in his position had I been two minutes earlier for my appointment.

So I felt good about being a Good Samaritan and doing the right thing, but my moral to the story is exactly why people rarely stop in the first place. Later the same day the victim’s insurance company, AAA, called me and asked for a recorded statement. I was more than happy to accommodate and was done swiftly. Now, two weeks later I get a cryptic letter from Mercury Insurance, which I despise for their business practices to begin with, asking me to type out a statement and mail it back to them. I have two problems with this approach. To begin with, I am extremely busy and do not have the time to type out random statements. More importantly, they expected me to put my own stamp on the envelope and take the time to mail it out. This was really not a big deal, but remember, I was just being a good citizen and this was the insurance company of the guilty party, who by the way was trying to say it was not her fault. It was the principle of the matter. They could have at least provided the stamp!

This is exactly the reason people do not take the time out of their busy day to “do the right thing.” The Good Samaritan seems to always get bitten somehow. How many times have we all heard stories of a caring citizen coming to the rescue only to get sued in the end themselves, etc. Remember Richard Jewell, the hero of the Atlanta Olympic bombing? He died last year a broken man and all he did was the “right thing.” As for me, I will continue to pay it forward as often as possible, but I most certainly understand why people are reluctant to do so.

Reprinted from my blog at a national travel magazine April 10, 2008

Okay, so credit card companies have always raised their fees on a whim, but this just seems to take the cake. I can understand that the fees need to be raised when someone misses a payment date, and I am well aware that banks make the lion’s share of their money on these fees. What I cannot understand is the audacity of banks to be doing this after accepting millions of dollars in bailout money.

Traditionally, this is one step a business can take that will help to build its capitol, but to continue to do this at this particular stage of the game is unconscionable. The mere definition of that word says it all. According to Encarta it is defined as “shocking and morally unacceptable.” The Oxford English Dictionary describes the expression as “not right or reasonable,” and Webster’s defines the term as “not guided or controlled by conscience: unscrupulous.”

So WHY is it unconscionable? Because these same lending institutions have just begged for and accepted $700 billion in bailout money, and that is billion with a capital B. While we may or may not have had to do it the fact remains that it is a done deal for better or worse, and the American taxpayer is getting the shaft.

WE, you and I, have loaned the banks our hard earned money to straighten out their self created mess through our tax dollars, and now they are asking us to further fit the bill by raising interest rates on the credit cards of people that have always payed their bills on time. Is this not double dipping in its ugliest form?

Let’s name names; Bank of America, American Express, Citigroup, and the list goes on and on and on. When is the assault on the American public going to stop? Come on Washington. You promised us “change”. We cheered for “change”. Now let’s get it done!

I know this will be a very controversial topic, but I just have to do it. We can agree that “tipping” someone prior to service is unethical as it constitutes a bribe, i.e. slipping someone a twenty to get seated in a packed restaurant. But what about tipping AFTER service? This is a common practice here in the U.S., but it is seen as unethical in many other parts of the world.
Shouldn’t the establishment be paying their employees a valid wage rather than relying on the paying customer to tip? Why is tipping prior to service any different than tipping post service? Are we not sending the same message? I know there are many people out there in cyberworld that will argue the point claiming that one tips for “good service rendered,” but that is no longer realistic. When restaurants have policies that automatically tack on a 15 – 20% tip for parties of 5 or more that is NOT tipping for good service rendered. That is an unethical “charge.” We don’t tip our postal carriers for making sure our mail gets to us. We don’t tip our doctors for saving our lives. We certainly don’t tip firemen when they save our homes, and believe me, I live in a fire area and would not mind tipping them at all! We don’t even tip the dry cleaner, the supermarket checkout person, the gas station attendant or the smiling “greeter” at our local superstore. So where did this unethical practice begin, and when will it end?
I am fine with incorporating the cost into the meal, but I don’t think tipping is appropriate. Now don’t get me wrong, I consider myself a good tipper, but I resent it. I resent being made to feel that I have to leave a huge tip. If I don’t I certainly won’t get good service the next time around, and yet I should just because I am a paying customer.
We get our ethics from four places; Authority, Culture, Intuition, and Reason, and over time ethical beliefs evolve. Perhaps we should be evolving with regards to tipping and utilizing reason to determine whether or not this is a practice that should discontinue. It wasn’t that long ago that the practice of “tipping” beforehand was commonplace and acceptable here in the U.S., but we came to the conclusion, through reason, that it is unethical. Shouldn’t the next logical step be to find tipping after service also unethical?

Nothing is more evident in 2009 than the decline of ethics in this country. Enron was not the beginning just the beginning of our consciousness, and yet it wasn’t even the tip of the iceberg. It is not that I am pointing the finger at America alone, because as we all know the world is rife with corruption and unethical behavior, but we tend to hold ourselves to a higher standard. If we hold ourselves to a higher standard then why are we in the financial mess we now find ourselves in? The answers are far and wide. Check back here often as my website launches to reveal my views on our current situation in America and solutions I offer.

I am reprinting this blog of mine I did on another website Nov. 30, 2008, and I thought it was appropriate to share here with a bit of an update.

People are often confused by me; just when you think you know me, I can surprise you. The fact that I am a liberal while being more fiscally conservative may surprise many. I also like to see things from both sides of the equation, which is handy considering I teach global economics. So, let me start by telling you that I no longer watch the news on television. I do, however, read newspapers from all over the world every day, and there is a very good reason – television is for drama.

Television news is overly dramatic for a reason. Now, I am not saying there is no economic difficulty before us, but I am saying that broadcast news has a singular responsibility to get ratings and not to inform you. That, my friends, is lesson number one.
Lesson number two? Be wary of what those around you say. Remember the old adage about screaming fire in a theater? There is a good reason it is illegal to do so, and it should similarly be illegal for network news to overly dramatize the world economic situation. Again, I am not saying we don’t have a situation, because we do, but I remind everyone that this is a cycle. It is only a little scarier because we are being told to be scared.

Economics, as a whole, is a confidence game. If Warren Buffet told us things would be all better in six months, everyone would start down that road the minute he stopped talking. When the pundits, news stations and even friends cry disaster, guess what – disaster looms.

Yes, Mervyn’s (is going) went out of business. They couldn’t compete anymore. Yes, Circuit City (is going) went under. Best Buy out-advertised, out-marketed and just simply outdid them. Yes, GM, Ford and Chrysler are headed down the drain (update – Chrysler just claimed bankruptcy), but perhaps they shouldn’t have been making Hummers when Toyota was selling the Prius like hotcakes. Not that I am a fan of the Prius as I think it is more hype than reality. It truly does not give us anything better for the environment than a BMW. And, yes, many banks have gone under. We all know the golden rule of not buying what you can’t afford and, similarly, not loaning what you are pretty sure will never be paid back.

There are many businesses starting up now than there have been in many years. People are no longer complacent with bad business. They are starting to think for themselves, which is one of the principles this country was founded upon.

So, I conclude with a few important questions. When do bad management and bad business decisions become the responsibility of a nation of taxpayers? When does it become crucial to put common sense first in lieu of high television ratings? And, perhaps more importantly, when do we stop blaming the other guy for our failures, suck it up and start over, just like our forefathers?

Reprinted from my blog at a national travel magazine

Despite the fact that I have been in corporate America for more than 25 years, I have a pet peeve I must share with all of you corporate raiders out there reading this. Since most of you are the movers and shakers I am begging you to hear me out. What is my pet peeve? Corporate-speak!

I was in my local bookstore and picked up a book that caught my eye called “A Dictionary of Bullshit” by Diane Law. I have been laughing from the moment I picked it up because it addresses my annoyance at the plethora of business “buzzwords” that have permeated our conversations for decades now. So, before I lose my mind completely I want to share some of them with you and plead with people to embrace the English language as it was designed and throw these silly phrases to the wind. Some of my favorites:

“Due Diligence (noun): the failure to spot blindingly obvious contractual, legal and accounting nightmares prior to a takeover.”

“Blowback (noun): the inevitable consequences of a foolish business decision, generally dealt with by other parties after the person responsible for the decision has safely left the scene of the crime.”

“Benchmarking (noun): the corporate equivalent of waterboarding.”

“Behavioral Competencies (noun pl.): personal idiosyncracies yet to be crushed to nothingness by the corporate behemoth.”

“360 Degree Appraisal (noun): an attack from all sides.”

“Robust (noun): a doormat, which holds up well to being stood on, repeatedly, by many different people.”

“Third Generation Contingencies (noun): things that might go wrong, but not until years in the future, by which time you’ll hopefully be far away and beyond the reach of blame.”

And, on the top of my list:

Vice President (noun): a corporate drone who accepted a fancy job title instead of a pay rise.

Reprinted from my blog at a national travel magazine

I am really a pretty easy going air passenger. I don’t ask for much. I rarely bother my seatmates. I can handle sitting in coach and I don’t even moan when the person in front of me leans the seat back into my lap. I typically turn on my iPod, put my noise canceling headphones on and read a book or take a nap. However, I draw the line at children under two sitting on an adult’s lap anywhere in my vicinity.

Different authorities have voiced many opinions on this practice, but now I am going to throw in my two cents. First of all, what parent in their right mind thinks it is okay to hold an unbelted child on their lap while an aircraft takes off or lands? Let’s just look at the safety aspect to begin with. The adult is safely tucked in while the small child is free to become a projectile at the whim of turbulence, and this is assuming the adult is awake. If the adult has fallen asleep then it is anyone’s guess.

My second point is purely service oriented. It is bad enough that we sometimes get stuck in a seat that will not allow us to move in any direction and oftentimes leaves our bodies in a permanent sitting position long after arriving at our destination. However, the child under two is an added annoyance. Don’t get me wrong – I don’t dislike children, but I don’t like them sitting on my lap unless invited to do so either. I have a pet peeve with little ones falling asleep on me, kicking me, spilling their food on me, or worse yet, drooling on me in flight, and I fail to see the wisdom of an airline allowing parents with small children to inconvenience fellow passengers with this continued practice of flying free under two years of age as long as they are seated on an adult’s lap.

One time, while on the way to a one day business trip, I actually had a lap child spit up their mushy breakfast in my direction. While normally inappropriate in the best of circumstances, I was a little incensed at having to arrive at my meeting with the smell and stain of pureed peas on my suit. Another time, recently in fact, I attempted to get a few hours sleep on the way to New York from Los Angeles only to have the gentleman next to me allow his lap child to continuously hit me with various body parts as it restlessly tried to get comfortable across daddy’s lap. Despite being disturbed every five minutes I refrained from reminding “daddy” that the rule was the child stayed on his lap, not everyone elses. And just when I thought this was all bad enough, on my return trip from New York, I experienced another little jewel standing on her father’s lap while he slept in the seat in front of me. Not a big deal except she seemed to have some fascination with the contents inside her nose while leaning over the back of the chair in my direction.

So I ask readers, is it me or is this just an insane practice that has to stop? If I have to have a ticket to get on so should the child. If I have to sit in a seat, shouldn’t all children have to? Why is it okay for children under two to annoy and inconvenience paying passengers that are already annoyed at being crammed into a space the size of a dog carrier? And why for goodness sake do we, as a society, not have an issue with the reckless disregard for the child’s safety all in the name of saving a few bucks?

Reprinted from my blog at a national travel magazine

I suppose most of us usually travel on an airline assuming that our luggage will arrive either with us or, worst case scenario, a few days later. What we don’t expect is to find that our luggage has arrived, but only after having been completely plundered by the very people we entrusted it to, yet this is exactly what is happening with luggage going into and out of South Africa.

I thought it was a fluke when a friend of mine went there last year only to have one suitcase looted of anything that could possibly be resold, including her clothing. Luckily for her, they took the Levi’s and left the Armani! I then assumed it was coincidence when another friend divulged that a few months earlier a similar thing had happened to him when traveling to South Africa. One of his two bags had been opened and anything of value liberated. As I questioned both travelers, I was surprised to discover that in both situations the cases were opened with TSA keys! In fact, in one case they even left a little note indicating it had been officially opened – how kind. Of course, I found this to be appalling, but after realizing that it was airport personnel I became twice as concerned.

As the dawning of 2008 came and went without hearing of any more incidents I began to think that either the South African government had done as promised to stop the thefts or that it was indeed mere coincidence that two of my friends had been hit. After all, I have traveled there many times and have never had this experience despite State Department warnings. However, just the other day my neighbor’s sister arrived from South Africa having gone through a similar incident. Anything remotely worthwhile was missing from the suitcase. I immediately inquired as to whether or not she had put TSA locks on and whether they were still locked, to which she replied, “Yes, my dear. The TSA locks were there and still locked. The government has apparently solved the problem. Unfortunately, they cut the bag open due to no longer having the keys.”

As I scratched my head in semi-disbelief, I reminded myself of something every international traveler must tell themselves as they click their heels three times: “There’s no place like home, there’s no place like home, there’s no place like home.” Yes Dorothy, you’re not in Kansas anymore!

Reprinted from my blog at a national travel magazine

Las Vegas has always been one of those surreal towns where everything you see is fantasy. In fact, I don’t know of another town quite like it anywhere else and I often marvel at just how many people pass through there every year.

Recently, I attended a conference there and wondered how a city like this has been able to court so many business conferences when it is a man made playground. Does any work ever get done? I wonder. The truth is you can lose yourself so easily in this adult fantasyland if you are not careful.

It is a town where anything can be had for a price and money is rarely an object. However, there is a dark side to Vegas today and one that may actually be surprising to most. I have been coming to this town my entire life at least once a year, most times many more, and I have seen so much change over the years. When I was a kid I remember being escorted to a table front and center at the Hilton fifteen minutes before Elvis was due to take the stage as my father and the maitre d’ patted each other on the back. There was no need for him to buy tickets months or a year in advance at inflated prices. There was an unwritten code of conduct. Now, today we would call it unethical, but let’s look at the positive side of things.

Nowadays, there are shootings all the time, in front of major casinos, and sometimes in them. Crime is rampant. It is no longer as safe as it was to walk the strip at any hour and if you do, you have to wade through the hawkers trying to hand you little cards of phony escort services. Back in the day, none of this would have flown. It was a rough time in the mob days, but it was a safe town also. You never had to worry that you or your family would be involved in a shooting because that element was never tolerated and your loyalty to a casino earned you respect. Today is a different world. Corporate America moved in and the “bottom line” became the only thing that mattered. Now, I am not suggesting that the bottom line is not important, but let’s fact it – a casino will always make money and the house always wins so why treat your guests like a commodity. People are not pork bellies or oil futures.

Of course, I still go to Vegas frequently, but there are times when I really miss the old days when Vegas was for adults and it was who you knew not what you knew. A time when traffic meant an extra five minutes to cover the strip end to end or when Elvis was king and not an actor dressed in a suit marrying two intoxicated lovebirds. Alas, I suppose they have joined the fray and merely traded Uncle Vinny for Uncle Sam.

Reprinted from my blog at a national travel magazine

Well, it has been two weeks since I wrote last due to our wonderful Thanksgiving holiday, but I wanted to share a story with you about this delightful little day from a traveler’s perspective.

As a professor of International Business & Business Ethics, I spend quite a bit of time teaching my students about the fine art of understanding other cultures so it is always a thrill for me to be able to share with them situations when people in a foreign land take the time to understand our customs. Especially in these troubled times, it is important that they learn that we are not always viewed negatively abroad. Thanksgiving is a perfect example.

I have taken the opportunity many times to spend the holiday abroad as well as the years when I lived in London. Although Thanksgiving is, of course, a uniquely American holiday, you would be suprised at how other countries and cultures have begun recognizing it on behalf of American visitors. Last year, I spent the holiday in Italy. On Thanksgiving Day, I happened to be in Venice, which I will admit is now on my top ten list of places to visit. Now, I don’t think it is possible to be unhappy in Venice, whether it is a holiday or not, but one always has a twinge of sadness when on foreign shores on a day like this. As I walked the alleys of this most romantic of cities, I knew I could console myself with a delicious plate of pasta, a lobster tail and a glass of fine wine, but, alas, the pang was still there for the smell of my sister’s homemade rolls and pies baking in the oven. Just then, I began noticing that many of the restaurants were offering special “Thanksgiving menus.” When I asked one of the restauranteurs why they were doing this, he simply explained that they were touched that we would spend this very American holiday in Italy rather than around the family table back home. I confess I was also touched.

When I was in Costa Rica on the holiday many years ago, I also found it charming that people everywhere would wish us a “Happy Thanksgiving” the minute they discovered our nationality. When I lived in London my friends and colleagues couldn’t wait for the holiday to roll around to come to my house for the feast. In Hong Kong one year a hotelier was offering Thanksgiving dinner in the restaurant, albeit with a few local delicacies added into the mix; one of the more interesting interpretations I have experienced.

So, never be afraid to take the rare four day holiday to get out of the country and see the world. You might be surprised at how much you learn to love Thanksgiving all over again. Oh, and by the way, this year I ate rolls and pies at my sister’s house, but I was dreaming of pasta and wine….

Reprinted from my blog at a national travel magazine